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The Leap-font (Music)
The Leap-font is a soundfont that was used for a variety of LeapFrog toys, such as the LeapPad, Learning Screen Karaoke, Imagination Desk, Leapster, See and Learn Driver, and a few others to give examples. It is a sound-font MIDI hardware synth who has an embedded on-chip synth in a system (ie. LeapPad and Leapster) directing SYN files referring to a set of commands representing notes and onboard instruments. In some embodiments, the actual instrument sound files are not stored with the SYN audio resource, just the commands. This allows musical sets of commands to specify complex musical pieces with very high quality in very small space. The instrument sounds and notes are stored in a RAW audio resource file which may be an uncompressed binary file representing a sound. It may be used when high quality audio output is desired. Some people wanted to use this sound-font to make MIDI music, too. It is sometimes nicknamed as the LeapPad MIDI Sequencer, first created by Explore Technologies for the Odyssey Globe. It was architected by Richard Marriott and Brad Fuller. Notable Uses The following list gives examples of Leap-font uses in the music written for LeapFrog-oriented products. * LeapPad (the most notable use) * My First LeapPad (notable use) * Little Touch LeapPad * Imagination Desk * Turbo Twist Line * School Time LeapTop * Explorer Globe * Leap’s Learning Band * See and Learn Driver * Learning Screen Karaoke * Leapster (another most notable use) Which People Used This Soundfont? * Jeanne Parson * Jay Cloidt * Judy Munsen * Brad Fuller * Jon Herbst * Kristin Miltner * Chris Daddio * Gary Schwantes * Bevin Blectum * Kendra Juul * Mark Bartscher Instrument List Each instrument named in the timbre banks also includes an abbreviation of that instrument's name. The count (total number) of wav files is 67 (all timbres numbered from 00-66 the instruments are named by Brad Fuller). Keyboards and Synths (Bank Timbres 00-12) * Grand Piano pf * Honky-Tonk Piano hnky * Cembalo hpd * Clavinet clv * Electric Piano elpf * Synthesizer syn * Cars Sync csyn * Blips Synth bsyn * Triangle Wave trwv * Square Lead sqld * Sawtooth swth * Pulse Wave pwav * Deep Synth dsyn Chromatic/Tuned Percussion (Bank Timbres 13-22) * Marimba mar * Dry Marimba (My First LeapPad/White and Green Interactive Explorer Globe) d-mar * Xylophone xyl * Kalimba kal * Vibes vb * Glockenspiel gl * Celesta/Music Box cel * Timpani timp * Steel Drums st-d * Shorty Steels (White and Green Interactive Explorer Globe) s-st-d Organs (Bank Timbres 23-28) * Church/Pipe org * Rock/Drawbar rorg * Accordion (My First LeapPad/Leapster) acc * Bandoneon bnd * Harmonica hmca * Harmonica-Chorus Reverb (My First LeapPad) hmca2 Plucked Strings (Bank Timbres 29-38) * Guitar (acoustic) gtr * Mute Guitar m-gtr * Electric Guitar e-gtr * Banjo bjo * Acoustic Bass ac-b * Electric Bass el-b * Synth Bass syn-b * OW Bass ow-b * Gutbucket gbk * Sitar str Orchestral Strings (Bank Timbres 39-46) * Violin vln * Viola vla * Cello vc * String Bass db * Pizzicato pizz * Arco Strings Ensemble str * Fiddle fdl1 * Fiddle-2 (White and Green Interactive Explorer Globe) fdl2 Brass (Bank Timbres 47-52) * Trumpet tpt * Wah-Wah Trumpet w-tpt * French Horn frhn * Trombone tbn * Tuba tba * Horns Ensemble hrn-e Woodwinds (Bank Timbres 53-63) Reeds * Tenor Saxophone sax * Oboe ob * Clarinet cl * Slow Clarinet (Blue Interactive Explorer Globe) slo-cl * Bassoon bsn1 * Bassoon-2 (My First LeapPad) ''bsn-2 Pipes * Recorder ''(LeapPad) rec1 * Recorder-2 (Learning Screen Karaoke) rec2 * Flute (LeapPad/Leapster/Imagination Desk/Learning Screen Karaoke) fl1 * Flute-2 (LeapZone products ''Leap's Learning Band/White and Green Interactive Explorer Globe/My First LeapPad)'' fl2 * Panpipes pfl Drums and Percussion (Bank Timbres 64-66) * General Percussion (includes drums, cymbals, shakers, untuned mallets, handclaps, etc. etc.) perc * Synth Drum Machine syn-per * General Sound Effects sfx Instrument Bundle Collections Sound History * In 1997, Explore Technologies used it with a number of instruments for the Odyssey Globe, making this the "Worldwide Premiere". * In 1998-99, more instruments are added, such as banjo, fiddle, panpipes, saxophone, and a few others to give examples. * In 2000-2001, there are more uses of a diverse variety of instruments. * In 2002-03, the instrument sets are expanded into the list. * In 2004-present, all of the instrument sets are now complete. Sound Clips *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOydhk7JUI Listen to this audio demonstration of how the Leap-font sounds. (demonstration music/audio clip used: "Eye Spot" from the LeapPad book, The Seven Continents; composed by Jeanne Parson)] *[https://soundcloud.com/bradfuller/kid-stuff-demo Listen to another great audio demonstration of music from LeapPad and Leapster compositions by Brad Fuller, showcasing the Leap-font! (Note that the music originally played from the platforms are re-mastered in HD with samples at 44,100 kHz.)] *[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ulMKxDQoE Hear another Leap-font demonstration using the LeapPad/Leapster/Imagination Desk instrument collection! (demonstration music/audio clips used: all national anthems of North America from the LeapPad books The Seven Continents/World Geography [all arrangements by Bradley Allen Fuller)']' What Others Have to Say About the Leap-Font * 'From Kristin Miltner: ' "While in some old hard drives cleaning house, I discovered that some past self, one a lot less jaded than I am now, had carefully saved .mp3 -- or in some cases even .aif versions of LOTS and LOTS of my Leapster game music... '' ''I remember how diligent me and Mark Bartscher were. We could have settled for porting a generalized set of samples onto the "Base-rom", but no... we had to make sure the audio engine had the capability to extend the instrument set to the cart each time, for nearly each individual title, some synths that were a little more complex than just a square or sawtooth wave for our arcade titles, some percussion variety, kitty meows, something that sounds like a gamelan but I can't remember what it was exactly now... all kinds of different hand-built sample sets... and so on. In these BGMs I even adjusted layers of decreasing velocity in repeated notes to imitate BPM-synced delay effects (no DSP). I can't believe I was so precious about these. Listening back to some of them, I can't believe that they let me get away with so much "beepy" electronica in games for the kids. '' ''I hope they make you laugh out loud like I did." * 'From CEO Mike Wood and Jim Marggraff, talking about the LeapPad mainstream model: ' "Each SYN audio resource may be a set of commands representing instruments and notes. In some embodiments, the actual instrument sound files are not stored with the SYN audio resource, just the commands. '' This allows musical sets of commands to specify complex musical pieces with very high quality in very small space. The instrument sounds and notes are stored in a RAW audio resource file which may be an uncompressed binary file representing a sound. It may be used when high quality audio output is desired."'' Trivia * According to Zach Hanna's (Vintage Electronics, Gadgets and Animatronics) YouTube channel, he is currently creating the GM-compatible-soundfont to sound exactly the same as the actual toys should should like, with all wav samples sampled at 44,100 kHz. * Brett Smith’s YouTube Channel also has all the music played (or given) to all 196 countries on the LeapPad ("Geography: The Seven Continents" and "World Geography") as well as the predecessor Odyssey Globe and LeapFrog Explorer Globes, demonstrating the Leap-font 3 instrument bundle packs, including the Complete instrument bundle pack. * Nicknames for this are: ** LeapPad MIDI Sequencer ** Explore Technologies MIDI Synthesizer Performer * Some people (around 50%) say that this should be in Musical Artifacts as a "GM-compatible .sf2 file", containing all 67 instruments instrument presets and 3 drum kits (ripped straight from the Leapster ROM). * The Leap-font is the only soundfont to imitate real instruments and is also proven to be a much better game soundfont, unlike other types of gaming/educational platforms in the 1990s and early 2000s [e.g. SNES's Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, N64's Super Mario 64, Mario Party 1, 2 and 3, CD-ROM's Mario Teaches Typing 1 and 2, Phillips CD-i's Hotel Mario and GBA's Super Mario Advance 1 to 4]. *The Leap-font is a firm favorite by LeapPad/Leapster/LeapFrog toy/retro-gaming and video game music fans from 1997 to today. Category:Toy Category:Music Category:Behind the Toys Category:Toys Category:Boings